Ingredients
- 4 medium sized potatoes or 6 fingerling sized potatoes
- Olive Oil
- Sea Salt
Method
1. Preheat oven to 220°C.
2. Gently scrub potatoes to remove the dirt.
3. Prick several times with a fork to allow steam to escape during cooking.
4. Lightly coat potato with olive oil.
5. Sprinkle with sea salt.
6. Bake for approximately 1 hour, until skin is crispy & potato is soft & fluffy on the inside. Turn potatoes after half an hour.
7. Using a fork, cut a dotted line across the top of the cooked potato & then squeezing both ends towards each other to open it up.
8. Another method is to cut a cross on the top of the cooked potato & then squeezing the sides to open it up, use this for the fingerling potatoes. 9. Be careful not to burn yourself when opening up the cooked potato.
Toppings
Low fat toppings include:
- Low fat cottage cheese and chives, non fat yoghurt, stewed tomatoes, steamed green vegetables or baby carrots.
Popular toppings include
- Butter, sour cream & chives, coleslaw, cottage cheese or grated cheddar cheese, smoked salmon, tomato salsa, baked beans, fried onions.
Tips
- Don’t wrap potatoes in foil for baking as this holds in moisture and steams the potato. Only wrap in foil if there is a time delay between cooking and serving, this will maintain heat and appearance of the potatoes.
- Potato is ready when a fork easily pierces the skin. If the potato is hard bake it a little longer.
- To “bake” potatoes in the microwave, wash but don’t dry them. Pierce, then wrap them in microwave-safe paper towels and place one inch apart on a microwave rack. Cook according to your oven’s guidelines, turning potatoes once during cooking. Don’t exceed the recommended cooking time because potatoes will continue to cook after they’re removed from the oven.
Potato type and effect on Bake
- Higher starch potatoes, with a Dry matter % of 15+ such as Mozart 16.6%, Sifra 16.7% Cecile and Marilyn 15.7% are best suited to baking. Low starch potatoes have higher water content and tend to shrink and shrivel in the traditional oven baking process; they are more suited to be microwave baked.
